Tuned musical comb



Dec. 19, 1961 G. GRoux 3,013,460

TUNED MUSICAL coMB Filed July 1'7, 1959 /Nvsu ron' GEORGES G-ROUX United States Patent O 3,013,460 TUNED MUSCAL COME Georges Groux, Montagny s/Yverdon, Switzerland, as-

signor to Techna Anstalt fr Verwertung Technischer Neuheiten, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, a corporation of Liechtenstein Filed July 17, 1959, Ser. No. 827,867 2 Claims. (Cl. 84-94) i The present invention has for object a method of tuning a vibrating teeth musical comb for a musical box, the said musical comb having at least one at surface and a base with which the vibrating teeth are manufactured as one unit.

The method forming the object of the present invention is characterised in that the vibrating teeth are individually machined on the said fiat surface over an area overlapping the junction with the base, until each of said teeth gives the desired tone.

The invention also includes a vibrating teeth musical comb tuned by the above mentioned method and which is distinguished by the fact that the teeth are machined over an area overlapping the junction of the tooth with the base.

The accompanying drawing shows, by way of example, a carrying out of the method according to the invention as well as an embodiment of the musical comb also included in the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a tooth in the course of a grinding operation.

FIGURE 2 shows the tuned musical comb seen in perspective.

The tooth shown in FIG. 1 has a free end 1', its other end 1 extending integrally from a base 2 at points of juncture, projecting over the under surface 3 of the musical comb K of which the said tooth forms a part. A projection 4 situated towards the free end 1 of the tooth constitutes the beard of the tooth and serves to dampen certain vibrations. The tuning method according to the invention consists in individually machining each tooth of the musical comb on the upper surface 5 of the same that is to say on the at surface over an area overlapping the point of juncture of the tooth 1 with the base 2 so as to remove material both from the base and the teeth so that the base and the tooth have a portion of reduced thickness adjacent to and including the point of juncture. One has shown in FIG. 1 the outer contour 6 of a grinding wheel the axis 7 of which is mounted so as to be able to move perpendicularly to the upper surface 5 of the musical comb. The portion of the base and the tooth having the reduced thickness is indicated by the dot and dash line 8; it is, moreover, more or less important according to whether the tooth is more or less rapidly tuned to the desired tone.

The grinding wheel might also be mounted on an axis apt to move parallel to the plane of the upper surface of the musical comb, for example, from 7 to 7 in order to produce grinding over a greater length of the tooth, the contour 6 of the grinding wheel moving to 6.

The method described is suited advantageously to automatic tuning in series. Moreover, instead of machining the tooth by grinding one could proceed by ling, milling or lead loading.

The musical comb K shown in FIG. 2 has been tuned by the method which has just been described and at 9 will be seen on the upper llat surface of the musical comb the ground parts of the vibrating teeth 1. In order to conceal the said ground parts the musical comb is provided with a covering plate 10 fixed by means of screws normally serving to secure the musical comb to the stand of the musical box (not shown). The said plate 10 is curved at 12 above the ground part of the vibrating teeth and serves not only to hide the traces of grinding, but as has'been established increases to a certain extent the sonority of the musical comb.

The method described not only has the advantage of being more easily carried out since thevupper surface 5 of the musical comb is at and that nothing impedes the access of an abrasive tool but it has been established that it also appreciably improves the quality of the sound produced by the teeth. This is due to the fact that the tooth has a portion of reduced thickness at the place where it is integral with the base.

The said thinning not only improves the quality of the sound of the tooth but endows thelatter with a much greater resistance to breaking than that of the teeth of musical combs tuned by usual methods.

What I claim is:

l. A tuned musical comb, comprising a base and a plurality 0f teeth extending integrally therefrom at points of juncture, said base and at least one of said teeth hav ing a portion of reduced thickness adjacent to and including the point of juncture.

2. A method of tuning a musical comb having a base and a plurality of teeth extending integrally therefrom at joints of juncture, comprising giving to at least one of the teeth a pitch different from the pitch of the adjacent teeth by the step of removing material from the base and said at least one tooth adjacent to and including the point of juncture, said material being removed along the central longitudinal part of said at least one tooth and a part of said base in alignment therewith.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 629,257 Jaccard July 18, 1899 1,983,300 Mitchell Dec. 4, 1934 2,502,722 Handler Apr, 4, 1950 2,735,328 Bangs et al. Feb. 21, 1956 2,755,697 Miessner July 24, 1956 2,876,670 Duncan Mar. 10, 1959 

